Inking device for printing machines



Oct. 22, 1940. ANDERSSQN 2,218,945

INKING DEVICE FDR PRINTING MACHINES Filed March 5, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 [II 3 ,0 7 6. l2 I! I2 7 Y I Oct. 22, 1940. ANDERSSON 2,218,945 a INKING DEVICE FOR PRINTING MACHINES Filed March 3, 1938 I) Sheets-Sheet 2 N. ANDERSSON INKING DEVICE FOR PRINTING MACHINES Oct. 22, 1940.

Filed March 3, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented a. 22, 1940 I UNITED STATES INKING DEVICE FOR PRINTING MACHINES Nils Andersson, Malmo, Sweden, assignor to Aktiebologei. Akerlund & Raining, Malmo, Sweden, a corporation of Sweden Application March 3, 1938, Serial No. 193,787

In S

8 Claims.

The present invention refers to an improved inking device for printing machines, especially for multi-colour printing presses.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and eii'lcient inking device which may be used with advantage for rapidly drying printing colours, or inks. for preventing them from drying in their wells, and which distributes to the printing face a thin colour film of uniform thickness and favourable consistency.

To this end, the improved inking device is mainly characterised by the fact that it consists oi a pair of substantially horizontally mounted rollers positioned in contact with each other in their direction of length andadapted to be set into rotation, such rollers coacting with end walls mounted at their ends in a manner so as together with the upper faces of the rollers above their line of contact to form a well for the colour, or ink, to be distributed, whereby one of said rollers may serve as a distributor of the colour to the printing face.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows the inking device according to the invention seen in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of one end of the device, and

Fig. 3 is a partial section at the line III--III in Fig. 1, the forementioned figures being drawn to a larger scale than the others.

Fig. 4 shows an end view of the device, partly in cross section.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the device, and

Fig. 6 a plan view of the same.

Fig. 7 shows an embodiment of the rollers, partly in longitudinal section.

According to Figs. 1-3, the inking device consists of a pair of substantially horizontal rollers i and 2 contacting in their direction of length, and end walls 3 and 4 (see also Figs. 5 and 6) only one of which is shown in the first-mentioned figures. The rollers I and 2 are cylindrical and provided their whole length with a hard and smooth surface, preferably consisting of steel. The rollers are adapted to be rotated in the directions of the arrows 5 and 6 in Fig. 1. Adjacent to their ends, the rollers are provided with circumferential grooves l and 8 (see Figs. 5 and 6), in which the end walls are inserted so as to form the troughshaped well space between the sides of the rollers facing each other above the line of contact. The under sides of the end walls 3 and 4 fit into the grooves l and 8, and are downwardly extending approximately to said line of contact between the rollers. Upwardly they extend some distance above the highest portions of the rollers. Each of the end walls is provided at its inner face with an inwardly extending lug-shaped portion 9 contacting at its lower edges with the rollers and weden January 13, 1937 having an upwardly continuously decreasing thickness from its lowermost point which is positioned immediately above the line of contact between the rollers, as clearly seen in Fig. 1.

Due to the direction of rotation of the rollers, the end walls 3, 4 will be automatically kept in the positions described, but a fixed abutment or the like may also be adapted to engage a recess III in the upper edges of the walls for fixing their positions in case the direction of rotation of the rollers is reversed for one unforeseen reason or another. The trough-shaped space formed by the rollers I, 2 and the end walls 3, 4 is intended to form a well for the colour, or ink, as indicated at II in Fig. 1.

During the rotation, the rollers convey on their surfaces a thin film of the printing colour, and the inwardly extending lug portions 9 of the end walls prevent the colour from being fed out to the very ends of the rollers. The grooves 1, 8 will assist in the prevention of such undesirable spreading of the colour as they collect the colour creeping towards the ends of the roller faces and convey such stray colour to the side edges of the walls engaging the grooves, and said edges are provided with return channels, or recesses l2, provided with sharp edges positioned in contact with the groove bottoms for scraping off the colour in the grooves.

The embodiment of an inking system according to the invention as shown in Figs. 4-6 includes two inking devices as described in the foregoing, one being mounted above the other and each of them being adapted to distribute a colour, or ink, on either of a pair of printing cylinders l4, I! provided on their surfaces with rubber types or the like for performing the print. The printing cylinders are driven in a conventional manner, for instance by means of an electric motor (not shown). A toothed gear I6 is mounted on each of the shafts of the cylinders i 4 and i5, and such gear meshes with a toothed gear ll mounted on the shaft of the corresponding roller 2. The last mentioned gear is freely ,rotatably mounted on its shaft and the elements [8 and i9 diagrammatically indicate a one-way clutch of any desired type so that the shaft 2 may be rotated in the desired direction by means of,. .the gear I! while rotation in the opposite direction is prevented. The gears 16 and II are equi l in diameter so that the roller 2 and the cylinders I4 or iii, which are also equal in diameter, contact with each other at the surface without relative sliding movements. In case the diameters of the roller 2 and the corresponding cylinder are not equal, the diameters of the gears l8 and II are dimensioned accordingly for prevention of such relative sliding movements.

The shaft of the roller 2 in each inking device also carries another toothed gear 20 meshing with a toothed gear 2I mounted on the shaft of the roller I so that the rotational movement of the first-mentioned rolleris transmitted to the lastmentioned one. The gear has a diameter which is about one-half of the diameter of the gear 2| so that the rotational speed of the roller I is about one-half of the speed of the roller 2. The rollers I and 2 are supposed to have the same diameter so that a relative sliding movement between the rollers occurs at the rotation, and thereby the colour, or ink, between the rollers is subjected to a rubbing action;

The rollers 2 are mounted in fixed bearings in the machine framing 22, but the rollers I are mounted so as to be displaced from the rollers 2 to a certain small extent. For such purpose, the bearing pins, or shaft ends, of the rollers I are'supported by eccentrics 23 rotatably mounted in the framing 22. Each of said eccentrics 23 is provided with an extending arm which, by means of an extendible and contractible link 24, is connected with an arm 25 afiixed to a shaft 25 mounted in the framing 22. One end of said last-mentioned shaft is provided with a lever 21 adapted to abut against a lug 28 on the framing. By tilting of the said lever 21 so that it comes to rest against the lug 28, the shaft 25 is rocked together with the arms 25 provided at the ends of the same whereby the links 24 and the eccentrics 23 are acted upon for pressing the roller I against the roller 2. The contact pressure between the rollers is controllable by lengthening or shortening of the links 24.

Oneof the shaft ends of the rollers 2 is extended beyond the machine frame 22 and supports, a gear 29 freely mounted thereon. A oneway clutch indicated diagrammatically at 30 and 3| is interposed between the gear 29 and the shaft of the roller 2. The gears 29 belonging to the two rollers 2 are interconnected by an intermediate train gear 32 located between them. The lower gear 29 is adapted to be driven by means of a separate motor not shown. In this manner the rollers 2 are only permitted to rotate in one desired direction.

The two side standards forming the machine framing 22 are slidably mounted on. a pair of guides 33, and the framing 22 is provided with a toothed rack 34 meshing with a toothed gear 36 rotatably mounted in the guides and adapted to be rotated by means of a hand wheel 35. The machine framing is adapted to be releasably locked to the guides 33 by means of bolts 31 provided with nuts. The side standards of the framing may be connected with each others by means of .cross stays, or equivalents, so that both of them get a common movement, or else both of them may be provided with toothed racks 34 for coaction with toothed gears 36.

According to Figs. 1-6, the rollers I and 2 are supposed to be solid whereas Fig. '1 shows a different and especially suitable embodiment of the same. The roller 31 shown in the last-mentioned figure is sleeve-shaped and has an axially and centrally positioned bore 38 provided at its inner face at a little distance from the roller ends with circumferential ridges 39 adapted to bearagainst the shaft 40 of the roller. The wall thickness of the roller 31 decreases from the ridges 39 towards both roller ends. The roller 31 may be considered to correspond to the roller I referred to in the foregoing, and the pressure caused on the shaft 40 by means of the eccen+ trics 23 for pressing. the said roller against the counter roller 2 is transmitted by the circumferential ridges 39, and thereby the advantage is gained that the pressure load on the shaft 49 tending to bend the same by acting on its ends is not acting on the roller 31 (or I) for bending the latter in any degree worth mentioning.

The manipulating and functioning of the construction described is as follows:

It may be supposed that the printing cylinders I4, I5 and the parts of construction combined therewith are brought into correct positions for printing in two colours on a paper web fed in contact with said printing cylinders. The two colours, or inks. which are to be used, are placed in the trough-shaped wells formed by the upper and lower pairs of rollers I, 2, and said rollers are preferably rotated a few turns so that a uniform film of colour is deposited on each of the rollers 2.

By turning the hand wheel 35, the framing 22 is displaced so that the rollers 2 come into contact with the corresponding printing cylinders It, I5, and the gears I6, I1 mesh with each other.

The printing cylinders are set into rotation.

whereby the rollers I, 2 are also rotated, and the rollers 2 convey on their surfaces a thin film of colour, or ink, which is transmitted to the working face of the printing cylinders and therefrom to the paper web placed in contact with the latter. Due to the forcible pressure of the rollers I, 2 against each other, the colours are permitted to escape from the wells in the shape of a very thin film thoroughly rubbed on to the faces of the rollers. By shortening or lengthening of the links 24, it will be possible to increase or reduce the pressure of the rollers I against the rollers 2 according to requirements in connection with different kinds of colours, or inks, and thereby it is also possible to increase or reduce the thickness of the coloured film deposited on the rollers.

It has been found that solid inking rollers tend to convey a thicker film of colour at their middle portions than at their ends, but by means of the constructional embodiment described in connection with Fig. 7 this inconvenience is eliminated. Since the rollers I and-2 rotate with difierent peripheral speeds, they cause a stirring and rubbing of the colour so that it gets a very favourable consistency when being transmitted to the printing cylinders. Due to this continuous stirring of the colour, it cannot dry in the wells, and therefore the invention is especially adapted to be used in connection with rapidly drying colours, or inks. It is also possible to charge the wells with a smaller quantity of colours which are nevertheless fed out until entirely consumed.

The friction discs 3I are also rotated simultane-- ably an electric motor) is to be started. Thereby the said wheels are driven in the same direction of rotation as that of the wheels I1 now out of action, but preferably with a lower speed of rotation, for instance one half of the former speed. The friction pads 30 connected with'the wheels 29 will then rotate the friction discs 3I so that the rollers 2' and thereby also the rollers I are set into rotation. In this manner the colour between the inking rollers will be prevented from drying, and

for some relatively short period of time, but the inking device according to the invention will be ready for direct functioning as soon as the said machinery is started again. The aforementioned separate driving means 29-42 is also useful for stirring and preparatory rubbing of the colour when required before the inking device is coupled to the printing machinery for printing. When the rollers 2 are driven by means of the gears 29, the friction discs I9 are sliding against the pads II, and the gears I! may be kept stopped without inconvenience.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment thereof described above and illustrated in the drawings, and it may be materially varied within the scope of the invention. Figs. 4-6 show only two pairs of inking rollers l 2 but naturally there may be more of them depending on the number of colours, or inks, intended to be used in each specific instance. The device may be constructed for a certain maximum number of colours, and nevertheless it may be used also for a smaller number thereof whereby the superfluous pairs of inking rollers may be kept stopped without inconv'enience. The device is preferably combined with means for a continuous charging of colours into the respective wells,. so that the colours therein are permanently kept at a constant level.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an inking device of the character described, a pair of substantially horizontal and rotatable cylindrical rollers mounted in contact with each other in their direction of length,

circumferential grooves in each of the rollers adjacent to both ends of the same, end walls mounted so that their lower edges engage said grooves from above and extend downwardly to the line of contact between the rollers so as. together with the sides of the rollers facing each other above said line, to form a well for the colour, or ink, to be distributed, and a lug-shaped portion provided on the inner side of each of the end walls, such portions being of downwardly increasing thickness and having their side edges positioned in contact with the rollers down to the line of contact between the latter.

2. In an inking device of the character described, a pair of substantially horizontal and rotatable cylindrical rollers mounted in contact with each other in their direction of length, circumferential grooves in each of the rollers adiacent to both ends of the same, end walls mounted so that their lower edges engage said grooves from above and extend downwardly to the line of contact betwen the rollers so as, together with the sides of the rollers facing each other above said line, to form a well for the colour, or ink, to be distributed, and colour return means provided in the end walls adjacent to the highest portions of the grooves, such colour return means leading to the inner sides of the walls and having scraper edges in contact with the bottoms of the grooves.

3. In an inking device according to claim 2, the additional feature that the inner sides of the end walls are each provided with a lug-shaped portion having a downwardly increasing thickness and its side edges positioned in contact with the rollers down to the line of contact between the latter.

4. In an inking device of the character described, a pair of substantially horizontal and rotatable cylindrical rollers mounted in contact with each other in their direction of length, circumferential grooves in each of the rollers adjacent to both ends of the same, end walls mounted so that their lower edges engage said grooves from above and extend downwardly to the line of contact between the rollers so as, together with the sides of the rollers facing each other above said line, to form a well for the colour, or ink, to be distributed, a lug-shaped portion provided on the inner side of each of the end walls, such portions having a downwardly increasing thickness and their side edges positioned in contact with the rollers down to the line of contact between the latter, return means provided in the end walls adjacent to the highest portion of the grooves, such colour return means leading to the inner sides of said walls and having scraper means in contact with the bottoms of the grooves, and means for driving the rollers at different peripheral speeds.

5. In an inking device of the character described, a pair of substantially horizontal and rotatable cylindrical rollers mounted in contact with each other in their direction of length, circumferential grooves in each of the rollers adjacent to both ends of the same. end walls mounted so that their lower edges engage said grooves from above and extend downwardly to the line of contact between the rollers, such end walls forming, together with the sides of the rollers facing each other above said line. a well for the color, or ink, to be distributed, means for driving the rollers at different peripheral speeds, said end walls being provided with color return means positioned adjacent to the highest portions of the grooves, such color return means leading to the inner sides of the walls and having scraper means in contact with the bottoms of the grooves.

6. An inking fountain comprising a pair of contacting rolls having alined grooves, plates mounted in said alined grooves to form a trough therebetween, means for driving said rolls in opposite directions, one of said rolls being hollow and having spaced bearings at the interior thereof and a shaft for said last named roll supporting said roll only at said spaced bearings.

'7. An inking fountain comprising a pair of contacting rolls having alined grooves, plates mounted in said alined grooves to form a trough therebetween. means for driving said rolls in opposite directions, one of said rolls being hollow and having projecting portions at the interior thereof spaced from the ends of said roll and a shaft for said last named roll supporting said roll at said projections.

8. An inking fountain comprising a pair of contacting rolls having alined grooves, plates mount ed in said allned grooves to form a trough therebetween, means for driving said rolls in opposite directions, one of said rolls being hollow, a shaft for said roll, said hollow roll having circumferential interior ridges spaced from the ends of the roll bearing on said shaft and the'thickness of the wall of said roll decreasing from said ridges toward the ends of said roll.

N118 ANDERBSON. 

